Baby #2

Well I guess that title pretty much sums up our news :) We're thrilled to be welcoming a second baby into the family, and maybe just a little bit scared. Mostly thrilled :) How much harder can 2 be than 1, right? Don't answer that sweet, wise friends who have more experience at this than we do. We'll find out in due time. Speaking of which, my official due date is January 4th. That's 2 days before Zoe was due (she came late, on the 12th). Do we know how to plan or what. So Zoe should be just about to turn 2 when we welcome #2 home! If its another girl, it will work out well since clothing sizes should match up, and I can reuse my maternity clothes since I'm pregnant thru the same seasons. Of course this time at 12 weeks I'm about as big as I was at 18 weeks with Zoe... the second one doesn't play around! Since I ended up with a C-section with Zoe, we're still deciding whether to schedule a C-section at 39 weeks or try for a VBAC. So baby could be here before New Years.

In general I'm feeling good, just super tired. I can finally get through the day without napping but then I'm pretty much done by 7pm. Geoff has been an amazing help in the evenings! Thankfully I have a lot less food aversions this time and am mostly craving veggies and fruit. I also have less of a sweet tooth than normal, so that's been a nice change. A chocolate bar lived in the cabinet for over a month... unheard of!

We're staying in our 2-bedroom house so the kids will have to share a room. We'll have baby with us at first but not for too long hopefully. All of you who have done the baby/toddler room-sharing transition before, we'd love your input! Parenthood is hard but Zoe has been such a blessing and a joy, and we're so excited to expand our family! Can't wait to meet you, little peanut :)

Some May, Some June and 17months

May was a whirlwind for us. If June didn't have special days in the beginning that I needed to take note of, I'm not sure I'd believe it was already June.
* Geoff and I spent our first night away from Zoe in May. We took advantage of a free night we had with Marriott and stayed in downtown D.C. We went out to dinner at Matchbox, where we split the spicy meatball pizza and finished with a tower of donuts with chocolate dipping sauce. Yum. We had planned to go see Gatsby afterwards but it was sold out, so we saw Iron Man 3 instead. Since it was an after 10pm showing, the action of Iron Man might have been a better choice anyways... we got back to our room after 1am which is quite late for these parents. We "slept in" til 8 which was glorious, enjoyed a free breakfast, walked around the city a bit and then were admittedly anxious to get back to our little girl. A big thanks to her aunt Kara for staying with her, which gave us peace of mind. We might even do it again :)

* The following week we went to Wisconsin to visit Geoff's family. We had a great time visiting with them -- since we only see them about 2x a year it's fun to see how much Zoe has changed between visits. She helped Opa make the coffee everyday, and Oma got to show her off to friends and old teachers of Geoffs. We went to a wedding for one of Geoff's friends from high school... All in all Zoe kept everyone pretty entertained!

* Memorial Day wknd we spent in PA with my family. We had a cookout, did some shopping, visited with extended family, played games, celebrated my dad's birthday early... it was great!

*So far June has been much more relaxed but still eventful. Geoff and I just celebrated 6 years of marriage on the 9th. Aunt Kara willingly babysat again so we could go out -- we enjoyed a nice brunch at one of our favorite restaurants and then played a round of mini-golf. Pretty sure I beat Geoff for the first time ever so it was extra exciting :) What a blessing it has been to walk with this man by my side for these 6 years.

* And now today, Zoe is 17 months old! This is such a fun age, we're really enjoying it. Watching her learn so much and try to imitate us and wanting to do things for herself like buckle her car seat strap... its just amazing what they learn to do in a year! She's getting in 4 bottom teeth which have been giving her some pain but she is being a trooper about it. She loves to "help" unload groceries, load the washer and dryer, throw things away, and carry items for us. She understands so much of what we say (probably more than we even realize) and tries earnestly to respond. She speaks with conviction though we usually don't know yet what she is saying. Last night to said "oh no" for the first time and its pretty much the cutest thing ever. She says "no" and "yeah" and "hi" and "bye". She knows her ears, nose, eyes, tummy, teeth, mouth, head, hair, hands, feet, fingers and toes.

16 Month Update

** Disclaimer: I started this post 2 weeks ago...*
I'll start off by saying "happy mother's day" to all the lovely moms reading this. I had a wonderful day feeling cherished and spoiled -- my man takes good care of me. Mother's Day was also Zoe's 16month birthday. Most of the days between 15-16 months were pretty terrible if I'm being honest. There were great moments in there, don't get me wrong, but the overall month was not a fun one. Poor girl was cutting her top molars and she did not deal well with it. Short naps, lots of crying and fussing, waking up at night, poor appetite... but the good news is that the past few days have been much, much better. The napping still isn't great but in general she is a different child and we are so grateful to have our happy girl back!

Funs:
- She truly has the hang of this walking thing down, including standing up on her own
- She has the funniest expressions and mannerisms that make us laugh over and over
- Beginning to see more ability to occupy herself for periods of time with toys or books
- She is really loving books right now and I love watching her get so absorbed in the pages
- Geoff and I were able to spend a night away while Zoe stayed with her Tia Kara and it went really well!
- says "hi" to lots of people when we're out and about, finally waves goodbye before they are out of sight :)
- we generally get out of the house between her morning nap and lunchtime, whether its going to the library or park or shopping -- she enjoys seeing other kids or "helping" me hold something in the shopping cart
- she often squeals when happy - a loud, piercing sound- especially at the library between books or songs which draws lots of attention from other parents. Yep, that's my loud child.
- Probably my favorite thing is how she wants to sit in our lap and crawls right up or backs herself into our lap. *sigh* melts my heart.
- Giving out kisses much more freely :)

She's loving her doll and stuffed animals a lot right now

Not-so-Funs:
- See first paragraph, RE: teething
- back to throwing food on the floor and in general showing much more defiance
- hates having her diaper changed and will fight it the entire time
- Again with the food in the hair- perhaps its her ploy to get more baths since she loves them so much?

15 months

This month I'm keeping it short and sweet. Zoe's biggest accomplishment during the past month is walking! She can't quite stand up on her own yet, but once she pulls up on something she is going, going, gone. She loves it. Its fun to watch the excitement and pride on her face as she gets better and better.
The other big news is that she is officially weaned. Yay. She's drinking vanilla almond milk 2x a day and while I know we'll try to transition to unflavored milk eventually, I'm fine with it for now. She doesn't drink that much of it anyways.
She's got a molar coming through up top and her bottom front teeth should be popping up any day now. Her sleep and attitude have taken a bit of a hit from teething, so I'll be glad {for all of us} when its over.
I'm sure there is more to tell but instead I will leave you with some recent pictures.

March Madness

Here it is the middle of April and the past month has once again flown by! March was a busy and unusual month in the Peck house. Geoff traveled for work every week in March which meant long days doing the solo-parent thing and quiet family weekends to reconnect. But, we made it through and that should be the end of work travel for awhile so we're all glad about that!
Here are some highlights from March:

Low-key weekends with lots of daddy play time

Zoe and I spent part of a week with my family in PA.
She enjoyed lots of love and attention from Grandma, Papi and Uncle Tyler

Geoff's brother Jordan came to visit for Easter weekend

We took advantage of the beautiful weather at Great Falls National Park

Zoe threw up Easter Sunday so she and I stayed home from church but we did manage to get a few family photos

Easter weekend was also the DC Kite Festival, so we made the trip downtown to enjoy the sights

Zoe did lots of walking that day and quickly crashed.
Tia didn't mind the snuggles:)

Well, that's our March in a nutshell. We're so glad to have daddy back with us. When 5pm rolled around each day and I remembered that daddy wasn't on his way home to take over for awhile... well, it made me extra thankful for all the days he does come home and gladly pitch-in. God was faithful in protecting us all while we were apart, giving me the endurance I needed to care for Zoe by myself, and sustained Geoff through many flights and days of meetings. He is so good.